I cross the border from Brazil in 30 minutes. I’ve lost my immigration papers and the officer is quite aggressive with me, but then the lady-officer makes me smile, tells me that it’s all right and wishes me a nice journey. What would we do in a world without women and their skills of diplomacy and understanding? I start cycling and find myself in a kind of no-man’s-land, where I start to feel sick.
South African Airways had delivered my luggage after more than a month , but with holes in my tent. The 2 days beforehand, it rained all night long and I’ d slept in a kind of swimming-pool in my wet sleeping-bag. I take a cheap room and decide to rest, because I start to feel a fever. I stayed there 2 days  before crossing Uruguayan border. The first time in my life while travelling when I don’t need a visa… This place is kind of weird. The music is both Brazilian and Latino, and you can use Brazilian or Uruguayan money. The people speak Portuguese (luckil y for me, because after so much time in Brazil, Mozambique and with my friends from Angola in Namibia, I don’t remember any Spanish) and Spanish, whatever you want. The city is effectively Uruguayan - but you almost feel like you’re in Brazil.
So two days later, I finally cross the border and start to cycle in Uruguay. But when I start cycling a police officer from immigration starts to run after me, and yell at me. He gives me a map of the country, a very welcome gift because I decided to cross Uruguay without a map. I couldn’t find any during  the last hundred kilometers in Brazil and I’m about to travel 320 kilometers to Montevideo.

I’m amazed. The road is bright, very bright and there’s almost no traffic (what a difference to the small, overpopulated Brazilian roads). On the side, there’ s a 2-3 meters emergency lane where I can cycle in complete safety - but there’ s no traffic… no potholes or any imperfection, I can’ t remember a day I cycled in such a perfect road.

The people don’t yell at me, they hardly greet me either. I feel a bit like in Switzerland where the people don’t talk to you, not because they are shy but because they don’t want to disturb me. Of course it’s hard for me to be objective, because I’ve just come from Brazil and the Brazilians are very talkative and sociable . But in a way, I don’t mind; I have picnics on beaches and nobody come to disturb me, they almost look sc ared (well, in a way I understand them - I’m dirty, hairy and my bicycle looks like a gipsy caravan on two wheels…)
Everything looks perfect, right ? But in life, nothing is perfect: perfection doesn’t exist, I learned that along the way. The wind is strong and is, of course, facing me. I spend most of the day cycling, or trying to find shelter where I can relax without having this wind in my face, making me crazy. But honestly, I don’t complain, the road is so good that I feel as I can cycle faster, even with the wind.
Cycling through Punto del Este, I realize how touristic is the place. Now it’s off season, but everything is built to welcome thousands and thousands of tourists, mostly Argentini ans or from Montevideo.  As soon I leave the “cities” (as big as the Swiss ones,  which means very small), I find myself in very nice and calm countryside. The first night I spend in the cattle shed of a very nice man. He tells me that I can sleep here, but I see him only the next day , when leaving. But it was not because he didn’t want to know anything about me, but more because he wanted to respect my privacy and leave me in peace.  The next day, after telling my story to a lady, she offers me a full equipped flat for a very small price. She loves my story, that’s what often helped me along my way, so I pay like 20% of the real price and enjoy a evening “at home”.
Along the way, I will pass numerous places like Swiss Paradise, Swiss Restaurant, Swiss Hotel … It looks like many Swiss people have decided to live here…